Goldney Hall

Infobox Bristol Hall
name = Goldney Hall
crest =
full_name = Goldney Hall
motto_Latin = N/A
motto_English = N/A
built = c1720
warden = Professor Gregor McLennan
HallWeb = [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Goldney/ Goldney]
JCRWeb = [http://www.goldneyjcr.com/ JCR]

Goldney Hall also known as Goldney House is a self-catered hall of residence in Clifton, Bristol, one of three in the area providing accommodation for students at the University of Bristol. [cite web | title=Bristol University Student Residences | url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/accom/residences.html | accessdate=2007-03-22]

The hall was built in 1714 [http://www.goldneyball.co.uk/location.php Goldney Ball 2008 presents The Seven Deadly Sins - June 14th 2008 ] ] and is a listed building occupying a hilltop position overlooking the city of Bristol and Brandon Hill. The grounds, which are used for weddings and receptions, include an orangery, gothic tower and grotto. The house and grounds have been used as a film location. The Hall's gardens occupy a ten acre site and are known nost notably for their five follies:

*Ornamental Canal
*Gothic Tower
*Rotunda
*Mock Bastion
*Shell-lined Grotto [ [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Goldney/guests/ Goldney Hall ] ]

History

The Goldney families influence in Bristol can be trace back as far as 1637 when Thomas Goldney I was sent, by his father, to Bristol from Chippenham in Wiltshire to serve as an apprentice for seven years. [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/journeys/voyage_html/goldney.htm The National Archives | Exhibitions & Learning online | Black presence | Learning journeys ] ] Goldney Hall was built for his son Thomas Goldney II who was born in 1664.

The lease documents from this time are available online and can be viewed [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/journeys/voyage_html/docs/goldney_deed.htm|here]

Thomas Goldney was able to purchase the home for a fee of £100 in 1705.

It was built in 1714, possibly by George TullyFact|date=October 2007 for Thomas Goldney II [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Goldney/history.htm Goldney Hall ] ] ,a Bristol merchant who was a partner of William Champion in the Coalbrookdale Works. Goldney was a Quaker and businessman with interests in banking, shipping and the iron and brass.

Goldney’s wealth came from the technologies which sparked Britain’s industrial revolution and the overseas voyages of Captain Woods Rogers on the Duke of the Duchess. Rogers crew rescued the Real life Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk, from Juan Fernandez island.

The gardens and orchards were designed by Goldney’s son Thomas Goldney III. The house was recased, altered and extended in 1864-5 by Alfred Waterhouse [cite book |last=Burrough |first=THB |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Bristol |year=1970 |publisher=Studio Vista |location=London |isbn=0289798043 ] who also designed the Natural History Museum. The house later passed down to other wealthy Bristol families – The Wills and the Frys. Lewis Fry(1832–1921) who was a member of the prominent Bristol Fry Family and became the Liberal MP for Bristol and first chairman of the University of Bristol University Council.

The main house is a Grade II listed building. [cite web | title=Goldney House and attached walls | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379240 | accessdate=2007-03-16] The building became part of the University of Bristol in 1956. [Goldney Hall Students' Handbook 2007 – 2008 – History]

Other facilities in the main house include a Bar, library, common room and dark room. [ [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Goldney/facilities.htm Goldney Hall ] ] A ornate mahogany parlour exists but if off-limits to students.

When the hall was first acquired by the university, it was home to 19 female students and was a catered hall. The hall is now comprised of 11 blocks, 2 of which have en-suite facilities. The hall can accommodate 267 students in addition to a few residents in the main house. Originally opened in 1956, the student blocks were almost completely rebuilt and refurbished in 1994 after a benefaction from Lord and Lady Sainsbury through the Linbury Trust, when the hall achieved its current size and layout.

GHOSTS

GHOSTS (Goldney Hall Old Students' Society) is the society by which old residents can stay in touch. [ [http://www.bris.ac.uk/depts/Goldney/general.htm Goldney Hall ] ]

Goldney Ball

The Goldney Ball is an annual event held in the grounds of Goldney Hall to mark the end of term and the summer exam period for Goldney residents at Bristol University. Previous performers to play at the Ball include former Squeeze musician Jools Holland and the Scratch Perverts. [http://www.goldneyball.co.uk/home.php] The event also raises money for national and international charities. [http://www.goldneyball.co.uk/charities.php]

Grounds

The hall also has an orangery, [cite web | title=The Orangery approximately 20 metres south-west of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379246 | accessdate=2007-03-20] attached to the main house, Rotunda [cite web | title=Rotunda, bastion and connecting wall approx 150m south-west of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379245 | accessdate=2007-03-20] and a gothic tower approximately 95 metres to the south,cite web | title=Gothic tower approximately 95 metres south of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379248 | accessdate=2007-03-16] which was built in 1764 to house a steam engine to pump water via a short canal [cite web | title=Canal approximately 50 metres south-west of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379241 | accessdate=2007-03-20] for the cascade in the Grotto. The grotto itself is a Grade I listed building.cite web | title=Grotto approximately 85 metres south of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379242 | accessdate=2007-03-16] and receives around 10,000 visitors per year. The Grotto is not open to either the public or students of the hall for most of the year and only opens to visitors a few times per year.

The statue of Hercules is also grade II* listed. [cite web | title=Hercules statue approximately 100 metres south of Goldney House | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=379243 | accessdate=2007-03-20] The grounds are regularly used for weddings, especially during the summer months.

The 18th century gardens are occasionally open to the public. [ [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Goldney/gardens.htm Goldney Hall ] ]

Grotto

The Grotto at Goldney House is a highly decorated grotto, dating from 1739, in Clifton, Bristol, England.It is 85 m south of Goldney Hall which is used as student accommodation by the University of Bristol.

It was built between 1737 and 1764 (dated 1739) and has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building. It is decorated inside with shells, quartz and rock crystal and inside is a pillared hall with fountains, rock pool, statue of Neptune and a Lion's Den. In 1762-5 Thomas Paty was employed in "grinding, gooping and laying" tiles for the Grotto.

The grotto was built as the centrepiece of the gardens by Thomas Goldney III, a Bristol merchant who was a partner of William Champion in the Coalbrookdale Works.

Architecture and decoration

The fountains were supplied by an early Newcomen steam engine [cite web | title=Tower 1764 | work=University of Bristol | url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/depts/Goldney/guests/tower.htm | accessdate=2007-03-17] hidden within a gothic tower approximately 20 metres to the north.

The grotto is approximately 36 ft (11 m) long by 12 ft (3.6 m) wide and consists of 3 chambers, divided by pillars encrusted with quartz crystals. The central chamber houses a life size plaster of paris lion with a lioness sitting in a den behind. Another chamber hosts a seated sea god with water running from an urn over giant clams into a pool. It is lined with over 200 species of shell brought back from such locations as the Caribbean, [cite web | title=The Grotto | work=University of Bristol | url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/depts/Goldney/guests/grotto.htm | accessdate=2007-03-17] and African waters. [cite journal | quotes = | author = Tim Knox | date= 6 | year = 2002 | month = January | title = The artificial grotto in Britain. | journal = The Magazine Antiques | volume = | issue = | pages = | issn = | pmid = | doi = | id = | url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-87130288.html | language = English | format = | accessdate =2007-03-16 | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = ] The roof of the central hall is composed of closely fitting block of Bath stone carved into pseudo-stalactites. On a panel on the door is the portrait of a lady, thought to be Ann Goldney (1707-96), the younger sister of Thomas Goldney III. [cite journal | quotes = | author = Robert J. G. Savage | date = | year = 1989 | month = | title = Natural History of the Goldney Garden Grotto, Clifton, Bristol | journal = Garden History | volume = 17 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–40 | issn = | pmid = | doi = 10.2307/1586914 | id = | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0307-1243(198921)17%3A1%3C1%3ANHOTGG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-K | language = English | format = | accessdate =2007-03-19 | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = ]

It is the only Grotto in Britain with both a shell room and running water, and its restoration is one of the strategic initiatives of the warden. [cite web | title=Warden Goldney Hall | work=University of Bristol | url=http://www.uoguelph.ca/president/pdf/ASummerleeCV2005appendix.pdf| accessdate=2007-03-19]

Film location

Goldney Hall is a popular location for filming with "The Chronicles of Narnia", "The House of Eliott" and "Truly, Madly, Deeply" as well as the 2002 Christmas episode of "Only Fools and Horses", "Casualty" and "Skins" being filmed there. [ [http://uk.imdb.com/List?endings=on&&locations=Goldney%20Hall,%20Clifton,%20Bristol,%20England,%20UK&&heading=18;with+locations+including;Goldney%20Hall,%20Clifton,%20Bristol,%20England,%20UK Titles with locations including Goldney Hall, Clifton, Bristol, England, UK] from imdb.com. Retrieved 3 January 2007.]

Notable former residents

*Euan Blair [ [http://www.epigram.org.uk/view.php?id=428 Epigram Online - Hall Hauls ] ]

ee also

* Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
* Shell Grotto, Margate

References

Further reading

Jackson, Hazelle "Shell Houses and Grottoes" (Shire Books, 2001).

External links

* [http://www.goldneyhall.com Goldney Hall website]
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Union/JCR/Goldney/hall.html Old JCR website (2004-2005)]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/image_galleries/goldney_hall_gallery.shtml Pictures of Goldney Hall on the BBC website]
* [http://www.goldneyjcr.co.uk/ Goldney JCR 2006-2007]
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/union/altprospectus/accomm/goldney Bristol Student Union's alternative prospectus]
* [http://d-mis-web.ana.bris.ac.uk/tours/goldneyVR.html Avirtual tour of accommodation blocks]
* [http://tunneling.irational.org/united_kingdom/bristol/goldney_grotto_ST57477271/ Photos of the Grotto]